Langston Hughes Modernism

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Select one poem by each of the four writers assigned for Wednesday, April 4 (Hughes, McKay, Stevens, Moore), and explain what, if anything, about each poem seems “modernist.” Include at least one quote per poem to support your thoughts. Cite line numbers for each quotation, e.g. (Hughes 4). Modernism strives to break away from traditional norms. One key aspect of modernism is the break away from traditional story telling. All four poets showed this in their pieces. In Langston Hughes’s Mulatto, Langston Hughes is telling the story of a mulatto man. He does this by dissecting the narrative and piecing it back together. The dialogue between the mulatto and his father are laced in between descriptions of nature:
I am your son, white man!
Georgia dusk
And the turpentine woods.
One of the pillars of the temple fell.
You are my son!
Like Hell!
The moon over the turpentine woods. (Hughes 1-10)
The poem follows this method till the end, incorporating dialogue with the mulatto and his half siblings with more description of the scenery. That’s …show more content…
McKay’s does this figuratively and he also personifies Africa. He does this in line 2, “The sciences were sucklings at thy breast” and line 8 “watches the mad world with immobile Lids” (McKay 2, 8). By implying that Africa has breast and immobile lids he is giving it human characteristics. He also briefly goes over the history of Africa from it’s colonization, to the slaves that lived there, the Egyptians, and Hebrews. One final analysis of this poem being modernistic is McKay’s tone in the poem. It is quite religious, almost like he is worshipping Africa as a deity. He is not simply giving a brief overview of Africa’s history nor is he merely saying that Africa is great because of all these things. He is worshipping Africa, and this poem is almost like ritual speech. That’s why it is

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